Syrian army troops entered Deraa al Balaad, the birthplace of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule, for the first time since it lost control over the area a decade ago.
Army units set up at least nine checkpoints across the city under a Russian-brokered deal between the army and rebels that was finally agreed this week.
Previous ones had faltered over disagreements over the extent of army control in the area and disarming rebels.
The government said state authority was finally established to restore order and securty in an area where the first peaceful protests against Assad family rule broke out in 2011 before security forces cracked down and the unrest developed into civil war.
Pro-Iran army units had for almost two-month bombarded the area in several failed attempts to take it, and laid seige to neighborhoods that had over 50,000 people, preventing food and medicine from getting through. They also opened a corridor for many civilians to flee.
In 2018, Assad’s army, aided by Russian air power and Iranian-backed militias, retook southern Syria, bordering Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to the west
Under a Russian-orchestrated deal then, the Western-backed Deraa rebels handed over heavy weapons but were allowed to continue their own administration of Deraa al Balaad.
Moscow also gave guarantees to Israel and the United States in 2018 that it would restrain Iranian-backed militias from expanding their influence in the sensitive border region.
Local officials hope Russia will rein in Iranian-backed local militias whom they say act with impunity and now hold sway in the border area.
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